Shark fishing the Outer Banks beats swimming and suntanning
“If people knew what was swimming just offshore, they’d never go in the water again,” the first mate of the Seas The Day said. I believed him. Looking down at the sandtiger shark that my friend Bobby Keller had just reeled up to the boat’s edge, I knew I would never go swimming in the ocean again.
We were fishing along Cape Point in the summer of 2020. Back on shore were the perils of COVID and quarantine, so Bobby, his dad, Terry Keller, and I had planned a bit of an escape on board Capt. Ethan Ingle’s charter out of Buxton, N.C. We had already seen an awesome sunrise over the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and landed a few fish when Bobby hooked the shark that ultimately took him more than half an hour to bring to the boat. Bobby is an avid angler and, as such, no slouch when it comes to reeling in big fish. But even he had to put in some effort for this catch.
Many species of shark can be found cruising along the Outer Banks throughout any given year, including blacktips, spinners, and even great whites. Some of these sharks you can keep for great eating. And some of them you can’t. Great whites are obviously one of the latter species. Sandtigers are off the table (pun intended), too. So when Bobby got his shark to the boat, we cut it loose and went about the rest of our half-day trip.
The right tackle is key
Fishing for sharks isn’t that complicated as long as you have the right tackle. Ingle often uses a Penn 4500-size reel paired with 30- or 40-pound braided line on a lighter rod, giving his anglers plenty of line capacity if a shark makes a run or, as often happens, tries to wind itself around the prop or the anchor line.
“Having that lighter setup really pays off because you can maneuver around the boat, and you’re less likely of a chance of them wrapping up on something and breaking you off,” Ingle said. “I’ve had better success using light line. But I do use about 10 or 15 feet of 50-pound mono just to give the line some stretch so it’s a little more forgiving.
“Also,” Ingle added about the monofilament line, “if it wraps or rubs around the boat, it’s a lot more forgiving than braided line. The braided line isn’t nearly as abrasion-resistant as mono. I’ve definitely had days where you had the mono rub up against the boat hard. And you know if that was braid you would have lost it.”
Ingle then adds a swivel, and 18 to 24 inches of 300-pound mono to the braid/mono combo.
“Some people use 7-strand wire,” Ingle said. “I feel like I get more bites with mono. But that may not make a difference. You can’t use single-strand, though, because it’ll kink and you usually lose them.”
Bluefish heads are an especially effective bait choice, as are small live bluefish. “But anything bloody and oily works,” Ingle said. Circle hooks are required by law, with Ingle opting for size 10/0 to 12/0.
Take Two
Fast forward to August 2021 and I was back fishing with Ingle aboard the Seas The Day. It was just me and him on this trip. So we planned to troll with a few rods and then cast as opportunities arose.
“Basically, we’re fishing on top of a big shoal about 7 or 8 feet deep, on the down-current side,” Ingle said. “The current typically flows from the southwest up to the northeast. We’re right on a break; a dropoff that drops down to about 26 feet.”
Ingle has most of his shark success as a charter captain in Hatteras Inlet when high tides push clean saltwater into it. However, a week or so of rain before our trip ruled out that strategy and led us to the shoal. It didn’t take us long to get into fish. But the blacktips we were primarily searching for were strangely absent. The reason why became obvious soon enough, though.
Ingle and I were trolling with two rods behind the boat by this point in the trip. Both were free-spooled to let any wary shark get the bait firmly in its mouth before any pressure was applied to the line that might cause it to spook and spit the hook out. One rod eventually began losing line and I jumped into action, closing the spool and adding just enough drag to start getting the shark’s attention. I had no more done so than line began peeling off the second reel. Two sharks at once?
Not quite
Ingle jumped to the second rod and began getting set for what we thought was going to be an epic fight against two blacktips. But it soon became apparent that we had hooked into something much harder to bring to the surface. We each struggled to gain back any of the line we had lost. Breaks in the action were few and far between. And all of this taking place for both of us at the same time without fail.
The shark had taken both baits before we could even react to the first bite.
Ingle and I worked to bring what proved to be another sandtiger shark (the same one Bobby hooked the year before?) to the boat without breaking it off. But we could only manage to get it to the surface and within about 20 or 30 yards of us before its teeth finally cut through the 300-pound mono.
It’s a rare day when Ingle catches a sandtiger shark — this was his first of the whole 2021 summer — which goes to show that you never really know what a day of fishing might hold off Cape Point. Especially when you’re actively trying for a shark.
For more information on chartering a trip aboard the Seas The Day with Capt. Ethan Ingle, visit fishingbooker.com/profile/view/15389.
Moonfishin’ where the sharks swim
While reeling in sharks is fun, it was the moonfish that really made my 2021 trip aboard the Seas The Day so memorable. We began casting for baitfish when we first got to Cape Point and quickly noticed a flock of seagulls whirling a few hundred yards away. So, we moved in for a closer look and to try hooking whatever had caught their attention.
Silver flashes all along the surface met our gaze. And we started reeling in round, slab-sided fish about a foot in length. These unexpected visitors to the Outer Banks turned out to be a school of moonfish, which, we learned when we reached shore and turned our haul over to the fish-cleaning station, only a few of the local anglers had ever seen. While there wasn’t much meat on them relative to an adult blacktip, moonfish are tasty if you know how to properly prepare them.
Seeing acres of saltwater shining as the moonfish schooled all around us was an unforgettable sight — as was the pod of bottlenose dolphins that came hunting for them not long after we did. If we had only caught the moonfish, I still would have counted the day as a success. But we later found out that something much bigger was swimming nearby.
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